


Never Give Up On Your Hopes and Dreams

by Aceofstars16



Category: Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer
Genre: Bad Dreams, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-14
Updated: 2015-11-14
Packaged: 2018-05-01 12:46:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5206379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aceofstars16/pseuds/Aceofstars16
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kai wakes up from a bad dream and finds Cinder awake as well. Then the topic of dreams comes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Give Up On Your Hopes and Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before Winter came out and was written for the Lunar Chronicles Ship Weeks with the prompt "Dreams."  
> Also I wrote this about a year ago, and as my style keeps developing it might be a slightly different style or feel than my newer works.

It was the perfect day, the sun was shining on the beach and as Kai looked up he saw his mom and dad walking by his side, both smiling and laughing. But within an instant the dream changed, his mom disappeared, leaving the young prince sobbing in his father’s embrace only to scream in fear as he saw the blue spots of the plague forming on Rikan’s skin. 

Then Kai was alone, staring at his portscreen as dozens of Luna operatives ran around rampant, killing thousands of innocent people. Suddenly they stopped their attack and as the emperor looked up he saw himself in the mirror, wearing his wedding clothes, about to do something he would regret for the rest of his life. But then that too faded away and he was left staring at New Beijing, looking just like it should be, only there were no people on the streets and upon closer inspection he saw signs of a war, millions dead, the earth had lost and towering over it all was Queen Levena…was this the fate of the world if she won? 

Then the Queen turned and looked at him, giving him a smile, “Didn’t you know by now Emperor? I always get what I want and no one can stop me…" 

“Cinder can!” The words slipped out of his mouth but Levena just smiled cruelly and shook her head. 

“Can she now? Oh I highly doubt that…." 

And then Kai was falling, it was as if a hole had opened up underneath his feet and had swallowed him whole. There was nothing to grab hold of, everything around him was gone, he was falling, unable to do anything, unable to stop Levena… 

 Kai eyes snapped open and he sat upright in his bed. Sweat was beading his forehead and his breathing was quick and shaky. Closing his eyes for a second the emperor forced himself to take a deep breath, to relax. It had only been a dream, Levena hadn’t won yet, Cinder could stop her, hope was not lost. After a few minutes of repeating this to himself Kai opened his eyes again and found himself to be much calmer. But he didn’t feel like trying to go back to sleep again, he almost preferred being tired to having nightmares like that. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he stood up and stretched for a second before making his way out to the cargo bay of the Rampion.

All of the lights were dimmed, making a cozy atmosphere so everyone would be able to sleep, provided they didn’t have nightmares to haunt them every time they shut their eyes. Kai knew he would have to try and get some more sleep sooner or later but at the moment he just needed to move his legs and get his attention off of his dreams. As he made his way through the ship Kai continued to take deep breaths while trying to focus on anything beside Levena. But that was easier said than done, after all they were kind of on a time crunch. Earth was already being attacked, and he had no intention to believe that the attacks would stop any time soon, especially now that he wasn’t there to negotiate with the Queen. 

Part of him was still mad at Cinder for kidnapping him, but the other half was relieved beyond compare. He wasn’t married. He didn’t have to try to be civil with Levena for the rest of his life, or at least for however long she would have allowed him to live. But what was the cost of it all? How many people had been killed because of it? Kai could feel himself about to groan with the weight of it all, but that’s when he heard it. A sigh. Someone else was up… Walking forward, he made his way towards the cockpit, which is where the sound had come from. 

As he reached the small alcove he spotted Cinder curled up on the pilot’s seat, her head on her knees. 

"Cinder?” Kai said as he carefully slipped into the copilot’s seat. At his voice the lost princess snapped her head up. 

“Kai? What are you doing up? I was just uh…" 

"Thinking?” He asked before she could say anymore, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately myself, but then again I’m sure we all have with everything that’s been going on.”

 "Yeah, you can say that again…I feel like I haven’t stopped thinking since, oh I don’t even know when, since I found out I was a Princess Selene? Since the night of the ball?“ Cinder let out a sigh and rubbed her head with her human hand, "I think my brain is overloaded with everything that has been going on. Maybe my circuitry is messing up." 

It was a play at a joke, Kai knew it, and even though he didn’t feel much in the mood for jokes he let out a half-hearted laugh but it quickly ended in a sigh. "It’ll all work out,” he said, though it sounded shallow even to him. 

“I’d like to believe that but it’s hard when the fate of the whole world seems to be resting on your shoulders,” Cinder said, looking out the window as she did so. 

“I know that feeling, being thrown into something so suddenly that you don’t even know how you can handle even the smallest things…it gets overwhelming fast…” Kai said, remembering all of the emotions and stress he had been dealing with only a few days ago. “But I want you to remember that you aren’t alone in it. Even if I was kidnapped and forced to be here against my will, well…I’m supporting you all the way and I’m pretty sure every one else on this ship is here for you to." 

As Kai was speaking Cinder had continued to look out the window but now she looked back at him and smiled lightly, "Thanks…I guess I do need to be reminded of that every now and then…" 

Reaching out Kai gently grabbed her metal hand and then looked up at her, "I’ll remind you as much as you need to…and also…don’t give up hope. I believe that we can do this, all of us, we can stop Levena, we can make things right…Don’t give up, keep hoping, keep dreaming, we can do this.” He wanted so badly to help her, he knew how much support and encouragement had helped him through the agonizing past few weeks, he knew she needed it. 

“Dreams…ha, they have only been making things worse. Though I guess they are really more like nightmares…” Cinder said, letting out a sigh. 

“You’ve been having nightmares too huh?” Kai asked, not surprised at the news at all, in fact he wouldn’t be surprised if everyone on the ship was having nightmares. 

“Yeah…though they have been getting worse…I…it’s hard to sleep at all, that’s really why I’m out here. I’m scared to go to sleep…" 

 He could hear the annoyance in her voice, being kept from sleep by fear and worries of bad dreams definitely wasn’t a fun experience. And now that he looked closer he could see the bags under her eyes, it reminded him of how he had looked the days before the wedding. Kai couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been since she has actually slept. 

He lifted his hand from hers to brush a stray piece of hair out of her eyes, "You don’t need to be scared, dreams aren’t real…you should try to get some sleep…" 

A small smile grew on Cinder’s face and she nodded, "That is true…and I am tired I just…” Her voice trailed off and Kai could tell she was trying to find an excuse to stay up longer. 

Before she could think of something else he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, “Just relax, close your eyes, I’ll be here when you wake up, you can’t stay up forever." 

Another sigh escaped Cinder’s mouth but to his surprise she didn’t say anything more and within a few minutes he could hear her soft breathing as sleep overtook her. 

 Kai tried to keep his eyes open, he didn’t want to fall asleep…even though he himself had said they were only dreams he really didn’t want to experience them again. But as the minutes passed by he found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open and before he knew it he was fast asleep again. Only this time no nightmares haunted him, instead he dreamed of a bright future, where everything was right again, there was no plague, no Levena…and best of all Cinder was there, a playful smile on her lips and her eyes alight with joy. He just hoped that one day this dream would become a reality.


End file.
